By Ogaga Ariemu
Nigerians and other African nationals seeking a Schengen Visa to enter the European Union will have to more an extra £10 as the visa fee surged to £90 from £80.
This is according to the latest data released by Schengen visa statistics at the weekend.
The EU Commission said from June 11, 2024, Nigerians and other African Nationals will pay £90 for the visa application fee.
According to the data, in 2023, African nationals received 704,000 negative responses for their visa requests.
This means that African Nationals spent €56.3 million on visa applications last year only.
“This means that €56.3m went up in smoke, considering that visa application fees are not refundable,” it stated.
The report showed that 636 applications representing, 34.80 percent from Nigeria were rejected out of 1,825.
The implication is that EU countries got €3.4m from rejected Schengen visa applications submitted by Nigerian citizens.
Meanwhile, Morocco has the highest number of Schengen Visa Applications in the year under review.
“African nationals spent €56.3m in visa application fees in 2023, representing 43 percent of all expenses; rejection rates in 2023 were especially high for African and Asian countries, which bear 90 percent of all expenses. Expenditures are to increase by 12.5 percent starting next week as the EU raises visa fees for adults from €80 to €90 on 11 June, following a recent decision by the EU Commission,” it added.
